Dante Basco Quotes

You're always being cast for what you've been in last.

I think I was pigeonholed pretty early on. And I started late in my career. I was 33.

In the years since I worked with John Hughes, there were many years where I literally had hundred of doors slammed in my face because I wasn't that kid anymore, and I wasn't a character actor, and I wasn't a leading man, and I wasn't whatever Hollywood was looking for.

I think that I've been pigeon-holed by virtue of the fact that I've spent so much time in front of a green screen.

I'd be stupid not to take into consideration that there are certain things people will not consider me for because my name is Lopez. And I know I can do any kind of role. I don't want anybody to say, Oh, she can't pull this off. So those are barriers that you have to overcome.

I don't want to play the fat guy or the friend for the rest of my life.

I think it was hard for people to cast me as an ethnic, as an Asian American woman.

I left 'Dr Who' after 18 months, as my character was going nowhere. In truth, I wished I had never gone into it. Afterwards, all the scripts that came my way were for 15-year olds.

After The Wizard Of Oz I was typecast as a lion, and there aren't all that many parts for lions.

People attach too much to the idea of being a model, that you can only be a certain way to have done it. You will always be dealing with it. You're an actor who used to be a model who never trained; there are not many directors queuing up.

If I only get to play Malaysian roles, there wouldn't be very many roles for me to play.

When I was younger, you get pigeonholed in parts, which is understandable.

I used to get typecast when I was younger.

People ask if I'm concerned about getting pigeonholed. No one asks, 'Ellen, you've done seven straight roles in a row. Shouldn't you shake it up, do something queer?' There's still that double standard.

To get even realer with you for a second, as a black actor, as a performer of color, I don't know how many more roles like Aaron Burr are gonna come along for me.

Honestly, I had a very realistic, probably pessimistic outlook at the beginning of my career post-graduation of drama school. In general, I would see black women, usually older, playing a certain archetype on procedural shows. I thought, 'Okay, that's what I have to look forward to.'

When I first finished 'Sharpe,' it was hard to get work because people only saw me as him.

I thought, 'Oh, acting is going to be great - I get to play different parts.' And then these auditions started coming up for terrorist, terrorist, terrorist, and I'm going, 'Whoa, what's this about?'

Having watched 'The Lone Ranger,' I asked my dad, 'You think we can be on TV like that guy?' He said, 'Probably not. You have to be 6 feet and blond to work in TV and movies.' I said, 'But what about that guy? Jay Silverheels?'

When you are young, coming into this business, you're told how the business works, and you feel very lucky to be here and want to stick around, so you believe the data, and you believe the conversations you're having where they say, 'You can't have that kind of lead because they don't travel here,' or, 'People will think it's not for them.'

I'm in show business, and we have a long history here of making movies about law enforcement officers. If you're my age, and you're male, and you're trying to get work, you're going to run into those roles as opposed to having a long run of playing dancers.

I played several maids in my career. I was tired of the maid after 'Far From Heaven.' I said, no more maids. Until I realized how difficult it was to get a role other than a maid, sometimes, in Hollywood, and sometimes you have to choose your battles, for lack of a better term.

I do believe, as a person of color, the disparities are great. A lot of the roles that were sent to me were 'Gangbanger No. 1.' And when a role did come up that I felt carried and represented my community in the best ways, I wasn't the only one that knew it existed. So I'd have to compete.

I'm black, yeah, but I'm just an actor, so everything I do doesn't have to be color-specific or specific to history. But I got to a point where a lot of people wanted to offer me period pieces, like that's the only thing I could do.

It's kind of heartbreaking when I talk about it now, I still get very moved by the lack of opportunities that were available to myself and to the very few others who were Hispanic young actresses.